


Married Life

by Steph_Schell



Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama & Romance, F/M, Marriage, Married Couple, Married Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-01-06 16:12:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18391856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steph_Schell/pseuds/Steph_Schell
Summary: A look into what the series might have been like if Jane and Lisbon were married before the pilot.





	1. Chapter 1

Lisbon didn't even bother to turn on the lights when she got home. The full moon coming through the large window gave her enough light to see by. "You took the long way home."

She didn't even start at the voice. "I wanted some time to cool down. I thought we could both use it."

Patrick appeared in the door way. "You're still angry," he noted.

"So are you." They had only been married two years but she could read him pretty well. Not as well as he read everyone around him but well enough to know when he was upset. "We need to talk."

"Very upsetting words," he replied. "Do you want some tea?"

"I think tht would be good for both of us."

"All right. Water should be boiling soon."

She just nodded and began to make herself at home once more. Most women would shy way from living in the same house where their husband's former wife and daughter were murdered. But Teresa was a practical woman. It was a perfectly good house and it was paid off as well. No reason to let it go to waste.

"You look very pensive," Patrick said. "Can I do anything to help?"

"I told you I wanted to talk," Teresa insisted. "We should wait for the tea."

At that moment the water boiled. "Then I'll get the tea ready. Lavender or chamomile?"

"Chamomile, please."

"Of course." Patrick disappeared into the kitchen once more. He came out with two steaming mugs and they sat on the couch to drink in silence for a while. Finally, Patrick broke the silence. "I don't like fighting in front of the team," he said bluntly. He meant both the fight they'd had in the van as well as the near argument they'd had when he gave her the frog.

"Then don't lash out in front of them," she countered. She sighed and reached for him. "I know you weren't making up that statement about your insomnia."

"Yeah well, I left my drugs at home." He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. That was pretty normal for him.

"You could have come to my room, you know."

"I thought about it. But you were sleeping."

"Like you should have been."

Patrick smiled at her. This one was real but weary. Most of his real smiles were weary. Except with her. "It's been a rough few weeks, hasn't it?"

"It has," she nodded. "I'm sorry about that."

"It's been more my fault than yours," he pointed out. It was true and they both knew it. There had been too much focus on Red John lately and that always put a strain on their relationship. Their views on what should happen to the serial killer when he was revealed were too different. "We haven't had date night in a while."

"We should do that again," Lisbon said. She squeezed his hand. "Can you say it? I know it doesn't mean much but I like hearing you say it."

Patrick kissed her hand. "I love you, Teresa. I love you more than the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the beach. And it does mean something to me that you love me back. It's important to me. Because you are the best thing in my life right now. You're the reason I can keep going when we get cases like these. Because you love me."

"I do love you," she said softly. "I love you so much. And that's why it scares me when you do things like this. Because I can't lose you either." She tugged on his hand.

Patrick moved to pull her into his arms. "You didn't tell Van Pelt about us," he noted.

"I don't know how to tell her," she murmured. "It's…"

"I understand." And he did. Their marriage had been small and quiet. They didn't flaunt it, didn't even acknowledge it most days. Because work was work and the last time Patrick had mixed work and family it had ended very badly. "She doesn't have to know if you don't want her to."

"She find out eventually," Lisbon pointed out. "I just don't know how to say it."

"So don't. As you said, she'll find out eventually. Until then we keep on as we have." He pressed a kiss to her hair. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." She felt tears gathering but she didn't want to let them fall. "I'm sorry about what she said to you. I know how that stuff gets to you. I'll tell her not to."

"No, no, it's okay. She can think what she wants. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. I shouldn't' have been harsh with her. Forgive me?"

"I'd forgive you for anything."

"Don't say that. I need you to keep me honest."

"Patrick."

Jane began to rock her, shushing her gently. "We're going to be okay. Everything is okay, Teris. We love each other. We love each other enough to overcome this sort of thing. We've done it before; we'll do it again."

Teresa pulled away. "I want to go to bed," she sighed. "There's too much going on."

"Of course. Go change while I clean up. I'll be up soon." He kissed her. "I love you, Teresa. I really do."

"I love you too."

Teresa made her way upstairs. They didn't sleep in the bedroom where he used to sleep with Angela. Teresa would have been fine with that except Patrick refused to paint over the smiley face so instead she insisted it be locked when she was in the house. They slept in what used to be the guest bedroom which was big enough to be a master and had a bathroom attached.

She undressed, washed her face and put on one of her jerseys to sleep in. Just as she was sliding into the bed, Patrick came up. He sat next to her on the bed. "Are we okay?" he asked softly.

"For now," she nodded. They still had a lot of talking to do. And there would probably always be the specter of Red John between them. But for this moment, for the next few days maybe. They would be okay. "Come to bed. It's too late to keep talking about this."

Patrick leaned down to kiss her forehead. "I love you," he said again. It was nights like these that he wondered if she really believed it. He did love her. He loved the fact that she had put up with him for so long and that she still believed in him after two years of marriage.

He stripped down to his boxers and slid in behind her, pulling her close to him. "I love you too," Lisbon said, slipping to sleep.


	2. Red Hair and Silver Tape

"I am really getting tired of you getting guns pointed at you," Teresa declared.

"I can't say I enjoy much either," he agreed. "But you looked very hot when you came into to rescue me."

She smiled at that one. "Which time?"

"Both times," he admitted. "I very much have a thing for you in your full police mode."

"A thing?" she chuckled. "Is that what the kids call it these days?"

"I think it is. I also think you've been wearing that black shirt on purpose because you know how much I like the way it looks on you."

She pursed her lips but he could see the smile in her eyes. "I can neither confirm nor deny that," she chuckled. "And what was with that line about seducing me over a meal?"

"My dearest wife, I have much better ways of seducing you than that. But if you want a fine meal, I can happily provide that for you."

"Does this mean you're cooking tonight?"

"Anything my lady desires," he agreed. "Though I'm banning those jeans from work."

"You love these jeans."

"So did the sheriff." Teresa scoffed at his words. "I swear I saw him looking at your ass more than once."

"First, he was practically twice my age. Second, I thought you weren't the jealous type."

Patrick shrugged. "Jealousy is a very odd emotion. And anyway, I want to keep how good your ass looks in those jeans to myself." He pulled her close. "They look amazing by the way."

"I knew you liked them," she purred. She leaned up to kiss him and then he pulled away. "Hey, I wasn't done."

"I'm not either but we need to go."

"And where are we going?"

"Somewhere special. Let's go."

Teresa sighed he tugged on her hand. Patrick led her out to his car and held the door open for her. She kept trying to ask where they were going and what was going on but he was immovable. Teresa frowned as they passed the sign for Napa Valley. "We just did a case here, why are we coming back?"

"Because it's a surprise and you need to stop questioning it or it's going to ruin things."

"I am a ruiner," Teresa replied.

Patrick reached over and squeezed her leg. "You're so much more than that."

Teresa frowned once more as she realized they were pulling up to the very hotel where their last case had ended. "Don't tell me you missed this place already."

"Not at all," Patrick assured her. "But it gives special rates to state and federal employees. Plus, apparently if you stop a crazy serial killer couple from murdering people in their motel and thus damaging their reputation, you get a weekend in one of their premium rooms for free."

"I can't believe you did this," Teresa said, not sure whether to laugh or scream.

"We've been saying we need some time off. So I spoke to Minelli and we have the next three days off. We're going to enjoy wine country."

"I don't have any clothes with me," Teresa pointed out.

"That sounds like an even better weekend than I had planned," he teased.

"Patrick stop that."

He laughed. "I stopped at the house before I came to pick you up. There's a suitcase in the trunk of the car. You know I do make pretty good plans once in a while."

"Once in a while," Teresa agreed. "As long as it doesn't involve suspects or cases, I have to say, I rather enjoy it."

"I'm glad to hear that," Patrick preened. "Come on, let's look at the inside." They both exited the car and he grabbed her hand to tug her inside. "It's not the Ritz Carlton but it is nice," he noted.

"I've slept in worse places," Teresa agreed.

"That doesn't make me feel like a good husband," Patrick smiled. He pulled her close. "Be honest, do you like it or not?"

"I like anywhere as long as I get to be with you," she giggled.

Patrick kissed her. "I bet I can make you like it even more," he whispered as he began to walk her to the bed. "What do you think about that?"

"I think I'm excited to find out," Teresa replied with another giggle.

It was hours later when Teresa finally woke back up to an empty bed. She slipped on a robe and followed the sound of cooking to the kitchen. "How long have you been up?" she asked.

Patrick, clad in his own robe, looked away from the food to smile at her. "I promised you dinner, didn't I? Here's dinner."

"It smells really good," she smiled. "Is this the part where you seduce met?"

"I told you, it would be very sophomoric. And I just seduced the hell out of you three hours ago. I'd do it again but then the food will burn."

Teresa loved seeing him like this. When he was relaxed and happy. Truly happy. "Hey Patrick?"

"Mm?"

"I love you."

He grinned at her. "I love you too."


	3. Red Tide

Patrick found his wife working in her office after the rest of the team had gone. "That was nice," he said, leaning against the doorframe, "what you did for that father. Not everyone would have done that."

"Not everyone had a father that drank himself to death," she replied as she signed off on a report. She slid it to the side and picked up another one.

"Rough case," he said, coming to sit on the couch. "Who knew teens could do something like that?"

"People can be terrible," she agreed.

Patrick nodded before reaching over to grab some paper. Teresa frowned at him, but he just gestured for her to go back to her paperwork. Since he had just grabbed some old memos, she let him do what he wanted. It was nice to have him not bothering her while she was trying to get reports done.

Just as she finished her last report, she heard Patrick slide something onto her desk. Teresa looked up to see a bouquet of origami flowers resting there. "They're beautiful," she smiled.

"If we were at home, I could spray something on them to give them scent. But at least these don't require any upkeep. They'll look like that forever."

"Remind me to bring a vase from home so I can keep them here," Teresa said.

"I would like that," Patrick agreed. He leaned down to kiss her. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm getting better," she told him. "It was a lot."

"It was. But you're stronger than your past."

Teresa ran a hand through her hair. "Van Pelt noticed me getting upset. I told her we don't talk about our personal lives in this unit. Which is going to make things weird when she figures us out."

"We'll deal with that when it comes up," he said firmly. "Right now it's late and you need sleep."

"You don't?" Teresa challenged as she got up. Patrick helped her into her coat.

"Meh, I'll sleep through the briefing tomorrow as usual."

"You're terrible," she sighed with no heat.

"Yes, but think how boring life would be without me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was short because there wasn't a lot of interplay between Jane and Lisbon to use. But there's more coming.


	4. Ladies in Red

Patrick was never allowing Rigsby to sucker him into another bet again. Never in a million years.

Okay, so he had actually suckered Rigsby into the bet but flirting with other women when you were a married man wasn't the best idea. And he had admitted that the widow was gorgeous. Which she was. Completely vapid and shallow but gorgeous. Still, Teresa wasn't fond of hearing her husband compliment other women during a murder investigation. Patrick could completely understand that.

But that meant he had to deal with a very angry and cold Teresa for the entirety of the investigation. He would definitely have to give her something very nice to make up for it. Perhaps a new bracelet or a pair of earrings. Maybe tickets to the hockey game she had been talking about recently.

But right now, he was trying to warm her up in a different way. Teresa was straddling his lap as he stretched out on the couch in her office. They had been making out for a while and Patrick was trying to decide if it was really worth waiting until they were all the way home to finish the act. He pulled away for a moment. "Have I been forgiven yet?" he asked.

"I haven't decided," Teresa shrugged. "Maybe you should try a little harder."

"I can do that," Patrick agreed, pulling her back down.

He had her entire shirt unbuttoned when the door opened. "Boss are you still in here? I would have though…oh my god!"

Both of them shot up and turned to the door to see Van Pelt staring at them, mouth going up and down but nothing coming out. Patrick pulled Teresa close in order to shield her as best he could. "Why don't you go out into the bull pen while we…straighten up," he said.

"Yeah, I'll do that," she nodded.

"That was not how I planned to have her find out about us," Teresa said softly.

"Me either," Patrick agreed. "But it's done now so we have to deal with it." He kissed her temple. "I'll take care of it, okay. You get yourself cleaned up. I love you."

"I love you too."

Patrick slipped off his vest, rebuttoned his shirt and adjusted his pants. He then kissed his wife once more before heading out to the bullpen. "That wasn't supposed to happen," he said. "We thought everyone had left."

"Yeah, I figured that," Grace nodded. "How long has this been going on?"

"The make out session?" Patrick glanced at the clock. "About half an hour. I'm trying to get her to forgive me for the whole flirting with a murder suspect thing. She wasn't very happy about it. And she was right but don't tell her I said that. I need to keep her on her toes."

"I didn't mean that," Van Pelt replied. "And you knew that."

"The relationship has been going on for three years."

"Three years?" she repeated. Patrick nodded. Van Pelt blinked in surprise. "Fraternization between colleagues is against the rules," she pointed out.

"I'm only a consultant," he replied. "Doesn't really apply to me."

"Does Minelli know about this?"

"We told him about six months after we were married." He watched her eyes widen at those words. "We've been married for two years. When we came back from our honey moon, I had a lawyer go over the entire employee handbook with a fine-tooth comb. Everything is above board."

"You don't act very married," Van Pelt said. She was still trying to wrap her head around it all.

"Yes, we keep it quiet," Patrick nodded. "After all, the last time I mixed work and home…"

"Right, sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up."

Patrick shrugged. "Natural reaction. But if this is going to upset you, I can talk to Minelli about having you transferred."

"I need to think about this," Van Pelt replied. She glanced at her desk. "I just came to pick up something I left in my desk. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Of course," Patrick agreed. "We'll see you tomorrow." After she left, he went back to Teresa's office. "You okay?'

Teresa had already put on her boss persona, ignoring his question and moving to her desk. "How did she take it?"

"Said she needed to think about it."

"We shouldn't be doing that in the office," Teresa said firmly. "Not if we want to keep work and home separate."

"I know," Patrick nodded. He studied her for a quiet moment. "You don't need to be so upset by this, you know. We're not doing anything wrong. I mean, you're right, we probably shouldn't be making out in the office but we spoke to Minelli. Everything above board."

"I know," Teresa replied, working to pack up her things.

"Let's go home," Patrick declared. "I can I'm going to get nowhere with Agent Lisbon so I'd like to try talking to Teresa."

"Don't treat me as though I have some sort of split personality," she snapped.

"I am trying very hard to be an understanding and supportive husband right now but you're making it difficult," Patrick told her. "Can we please go home so we can discuss this like adults?"

"Fine," she muttered sullenly.

Patrick ran a hand through his curls as he followed her out. This was supposed to make her not angry at him. So much for that plan. Part of him was angry at Van Pelt but mostly he was just annoyed. He drove them home in silence but once they were through the front door, he started speaking. "I understand that you're upset but I'm not the one you should be upset with."

Teresa looked like she wanted to continue being angry. "I'm not upset at you," she finally admitted, dropping the façade. "I'm angry at myself. For forgetting we were at work. For never explaining to Van Pelt what was going on. For all of it."

Patrick nodded. "On the bright side, she knows now."

"What do you think she'll do with the information?"

Now he frowned. "This isn't blackmail, Teresa. I told you before, we're above board. I can have the lawyer look over the employee handbook again if you want."

"I don't like this," Teresa burst out. "I don't like the hiding and the lying about all of this. And I don't like that we have to be afraid of Red John coming for us."

"I don't either," Patrick sighed. He drew her over to the couch and pulled her close. "This won't be forever, Teris," he murmured. "We'll catch him. And then we don't have to worry about any of this."

"Promise?" she asked.

"Promise," he agreed. He smiled and kissed her temple. "So am I at least forgiven for flirting with the widow?"

"You know I had actually forgotten about that until just now." Teresa straddled his lap with a smile. "You were doing a pretty good job at distracting me before. Why don't we go back to that?"

"Whatever you want," he agreed with a laugh.


End file.
